John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
2335 Izaak Walton 1593-1683 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 2335 |
| AUTHOR: | Izaak Walton (1593–1683) |
| QUOTATION: | We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler 1 said of strawberries: “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did;” and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | The Complete Angler. Part i. Chap. v. |
| Note 1. William Butler, styled by Dr. Fuller in his “Worthies” (Suffolk) the “Æsculapius of our age.” He died in 1621. This first appeared in the second edition of “The Angler,” 1655. Roger Williams, in his “Key into the Language of America,” 1643, p. 98, says: “One of the chiefest doctors of England was wont to say, that God could have made, but God never did make, a better berry.” [back] |